Annual review 2021-22

The Road Ahead

Quarriers today and tomorrow

Quarriers is an organisation steeped in history, but we have a firm focus on the future and how we can evolve to meet the changing needs of the people we support.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought many challenges, but it has also presented opportunities to rethink how we provide support, how we work and indeed how we live. With innovative new services, pioneering campaigns and a focus on learning and development, we have a very bright future ahead of us.

Video: a message from Quarriers Chief Executive Officer Dr Ron Culley

Digital Financial Inclusion Partnership

Quarriers is part of the Digital Financial Inclusion Partnership, an exciting initiative that aims to empower people we support to transition to a cashless society.

Many people with learning disabilities find using cash helps them to budget, but the past two years have seen increasing numbers of businesses discontinuing cash payments. Many people we support don’t have access to or understanding of payment through credit or debit cards or apps, and are increasingly finding themselves unable to make purchases.

With the help of Scottish Government funding through the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD), the partnership aims to develop learning resources and technological aids to empower people we support to make the shift to digital banking and spending.

Digital Financial Inclusion Partners:

•

Quarriers

• Barclays

• West College Scotland

• SCLD

• The Scottish Government

• The Fraser of Allander Institute

• RIX Research Centre, University of East London

We will soon be launching Quarriers Academy, a comprehensive learning resource designed to meet the needs of staff, invest in their talents and ambitions, and support them to learn, grow and develop their careers within Quarriers and in social care.

Quarriers Academy will help our workforce become more knowledgeable and confident through individualised learning and development plans including classroom-based training, e-learning and qualifications such as SVQs.

Built and designed in collaboration with staff and combining our existing functions in one accessible location, our new learner management system will make digital learning more accessible, offering bitesize training as well as in-depth courses. Staff can easily find the learning they need, whether it’s core, care role-specific or specialist training.

Quarriers’ diversity offers unique opportunities to progress and move laterally: there is no set pathway, and staff know that whatever move they want to make, they can access all the training they need at every stage of their career.

Raising awareness

During the past year, we have welcomed MSPs, MPs and Councillors to services across the country, providing opportunities to learn about the work we do and the issues affecting the people we support.

“I was delighted to visit Quarriers' Finnart Street Service. Hearing the residents talk passionately about their hobbies and the range of activities staff help them engage in, it really hits home the positive impact that the staff have upon those in their care.”

Humza Yousaf MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, and Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Security, helped celebrate our 150th anniversary, with Ms Duncan-Glancy presenting the Quarriers Excellence Awards for staff. Natalie Don, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, also joined us to meet our phenomenal volunteers during Volunteers’ Week.

- Stuart McMillan MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde

Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Security, presenting Quarriers Excellence Awards

Stuart McMillan MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde with people we support at Finnart Street

Marking our 150th anniversary

November2021 marked a momentous occasion in Quarriers’ history –our 150th anniversary.

We marked the occasion by producing a series of films about the origins and evolution of the organisation, launching a memorial garden in Quarriers Village, and celebrating the quality, compassion and contribution of staff and volunteers at our Excellence Awards.

Video: Click on the icons below to watch our special 150th anniversary films.

Quarriers timeline

The William Quarrier Story

Chief Executive Officer Dr Ron Culley in conversation with Anna Magnusson

Stephen McCabe, leader of Inverclyde Council, Ronald Culley and Natalie Don MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, breaking symbolic ground on a memorial in Quarriers Village.

The future of office working

Although Quarriers Village is deeply ingrained in our history, we recognise that the vast majority of our work takes place elsewhere, so in 2021, we moved our registered head office to the Scottish Epilepsy Centre in Glasgow.

This is an administrative move that places our head office in a flagship building with high-end conferencing facilities and takes the organisation back into the heart of Glasgow where our journey began.

Staff are equipped to work in the digital age, moving seamlessly between their homes and our satellite offices across Scotland. In collaboration with staff throughout the organisation, we developed an agile working policy to give office workers flexibility and choice about how and where they work. We believe this allows people the opportunity for a balanced life and deliver more efficiently for the future workplace.

Early intervention

Early intervention underpins our support services for children, families and young people. Providing support before a person reaches crisis point helps to build resilience to cope with life’s challenges, and improve relationships, life chances and mental health.

Quarriers Family Resource Centre

Quarriers Family Resource Centre shows the difference that early intervention can make. The centre’s presence at the heart of the community gives people in crisis somewhere to turn, and all early intensive interventions can be provided in-house. Our scaffolding fully supports the needs of the family, keeping children in their own homes and reducing statutory interventions, and having one of our team refer to a local social worker, GP or psychiatric nurse can bridge the gap to formal support.

The centre is an ecosystem, a cycle of support, growth and giving.

Parents are more confident, resilient, better equipped to face challenges and provide for their children, who are in turn supported to learn, achieve, and be happier

and healthier. This confidence encourages people to help others, share their stories and play a part in their community.

Support in Dumfries and Galloway

Quarriers’ uniqueness is exemplified in the diverse, comprehensive support we provide for families and young people throughout Dumfries and Galloway, a large region with many rural and remote areas. In addition to the well-established Family Support, Short Breaks and Parent Carers services, the past year has seen the opening of two new services.

Our Emotional Health and Wellbeing School Service supports young people in mainstream schools to build resilience and develop coping strategies. This can be short-term support during life events such as a bereavement or parental marriage breakdown, or longer-term support to stay in school or cope with a challenging home life.

Working with Dumfries and Galloway Council, Social Work and other partners, our Youth Homeless Service supports young people aged 16-25 with all aspects of managing a tenancy. Support at the stage when a young person is beginning to struggle is vital: learning skills such as budgeting can empower them to manage their situation and look after their tenancy before they reach crisis point, and avoid becoming homeless.

Borders Resilience for Wellbeing

Life may look a lot more like it did before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the effects of lockdown are still being felt.

The team at Quarriers Resilience for Wellbeing Service has seen a significant rise in anxiety levels among the young people they support. Significant milestones –school dances, visits to university, last days of term – have been missed, and many have had their first experience of sitting exams being their Highers.

The Resilience for Wellbeing Team has responded flexibly to meet these changing needs, with support workers in smaller schools offering virtual sessions to help larger schools meet the uptake in

demand, online support provided for people who are struggling to go to school, and a programme of activities during school holidays.

The team is also able to provide practical support for families who may be struggling yet are reluctant to engage with other services.

Recognising that they too have faced a challenging period, the team makes time to connect with and support each other, and their kindness and compassion were recognised with the prize for Team of the Year at Quarriers’ Excellence Awards 2021.

“Quarriers has been an absolute saviour to my family, and I hope every child going through a tough time or having mental health issues is lucky enough to experience the kindness and support from these lovely people.”

– Parent

Rights-respecting

The Promise

Rights-respecting service delivery is the premise on which we base all our interaction with the people we support. We find creative ways to ensure that the people we support are aware of and understand their rights, such as our Family Support Service in Dumfries and Galloway running rights-focused sessions for young people, and children at our Family Resource Centre in Glasgow designing characters illustrating the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators to display at the centre.

In February 2020, the Care Review published seven reports, with The Promise narrating a vision for Scotland’s children, families and young people to ensure children grow up “loved, safe and respected”.

Taking The Promise’s foundations as our starting point, Quarriers is playing a leading role in the redesign of services for children, families, and young people in South Ayrshire. Our support and outreach services for young people who are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or who are care experienced have been co-designed with people who have lived experience, leading to the creation of a specialist Navigator role.

The Navigator works directly with young people, offering flexible and responsive support during key times, life events and transitions when needed, and is a constant key person in a young person’s life, regardless of their changing needs.

Young people are able to shape the service through regular opportunities to give feedback and developing their individual support plans, and also have access to counsellors and transition mentors to ensure our support truly meets their needs.

Transitions

Respecting the rights and wishes of people we support is key during transitions to new services.

When Caroline was getting ready to move into her new home with Quarriers East Dunbartonshire, she visited the service regularly to meet her new housemates and get to know her staff team. Caroline, her family and staff worked closely to ensure she felt comfortable and ready for the move.

It was important to Caroline that she maintained the relationships and activities she enjoyed before her move: continuing her volunteer role at a café and regularly catching up with family and friends eased the transition and helped her to settle into her new home quickly. Caroline loves cooking and baking, so staff supported her to keep this up and try new recipes. She has also been supported to try new activities and join in with larger events such as Quarriers Halloween Spooktacular. She has built strong friendships with her housemates and is very happy at home.

Co-production

We believe that partnership and collaboration with all stakeholders is key to providing effective support, and that the voice of the person we support is at the centre of all we do.

We work with people we support, their families and carers to shape the services they need, and partner with a wide range of agencies and organisations to deliver joined-up services, develop innovative models of care and make accessing support as straightforward as possible.

Trauma-informed practice

Developing trauma-informed practice is a priority at Quarriers, driven by staff speaking up about the support they need and the knowledge they want to develop.

In January 2022, Quarriers appointed Trauma-Informed Co-ordinator Kavitha Ratnam to work with people we support, staff and our leadership team to develop an organisationwide approach to trauma-informed support.

Kavitha says “Covid has presented a new window for understanding trauma. In the past two years, we have all experienced powerlessness and threat, and have been unable to make some of our own choices. For some of the people we support, this can be their everyday experience.”

Building an understanding of trauma and its lifelong impact enables us to support both people who use our services and staff to thrive, and to move forward with hope.

Video: Kavitha explains the importance of trauma-informed practice at Quarriers.

Operation Protector

Launched in May 2022, Operation Protector is a pioneering initiative by Arrows, a Quarriers service providing drug and alcohol support for people living in Moray, working in partnership with Police Scotland, social work, housing and advocacy. The joint project, which is the first of its kind in the UK, targets cuckooing - the practice of taking over the home of a vulnerable person to establish a base for illegal drug dealing – and aims to ensure vulnerable people in the community can access support.

Every week, a member of staff from Arrows and a Community Police Officer focus on a different area of Grampian, visiting people who have been identified in police concern reports to share harm reduction information, encourage them to engage with local services and organise identified support such a food parcels. Community information days take place every three months in a different location across the region, with agencies joining together to raise awareness of available support and provide information and advice.

In its first three months, Operation Protector has seen 35 people engage with support services, delivered talks in schools and established a local football league, showing the power of agencies working together to make a real difference in their communities.

Short breaks

Carers tell us that the short breaks we provide are a lifeline and are necessary in helping them keep on caring. And while it’s important that breaks give carers time to themselves, safe in the knowledge the person they care for is being looked after, we believe they also offer opportunities for the people we support to enjoy a break from their routine and have new experiences.

Through sessions with our Inclusion Team, as well as a survey, we are working with carers and people we support to explore what they need from a break, whether it’s the person we support enjoying a residential stay, or spending a night at the theatre while their carer attends an evening class, goes to the gym or spends time with friends. We hope to deliver a range of flexible break options that give carers and people we support time to simply enjoy themselves and get more out of life.

“My son comes in for breaks which he enjoys but it also allows us all to recharge our batteries and do things we can’t do when our son is at home.” - Carer

“It gives me a wee bit of freedom and time to spend with friends and family without a worry.” - Carer

Aberdeen Carers Support Service

Co-production is at the heart of Aberdeen Carers Support Service. Shortly after launching in December 2020 and building relationships with carers in the area, the service worked with colleagues from Operational Management and Marketing to run a PATH session with carers to look at what they wanted from the service. Carers discussed their priorities for the year ahead, and their thoughts were graphically recorded.

A follow-up session was held a month later looking at ideas

for a new logo and service name, including font styles and colours.

A survey featuring a variety of names and logo mock-ups was then sent out to all registered carers so they could make the final decision.

“I’m pleased that I’ve contributed. I feel enthusiastic about this, and listened to.”

– Carer

Virtual Carers Centre

Working in collaboration with our carers services in Moray, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dumfries and Galloway, we launched our Virtual Carers Centre, a hub of information and resources for carers of all ages.

Our experience tells us that unpaid carers sometimes need information immediately to help with unexpected demands at any time of the day, so the centre was created to provide a comprehensive resource of national, regional and local information, and ensure carers are aware of their rights and the support available to them.

The site is shaped by the people we support, and we welcome feedback and suggestions from carers.

Living Better with Epilepsy

In 2022, the Scottish Epilepsy Centre launched Living Better with Epilepsy, a supported self-management service to help people with epilepsy and related conditions to live life to the full. Run in partnership with

the Thistle Foundation and delivered with funding through the Scottish Government’s Neurological Care Fund, the service embodies the house of care model, aiming to provide the best of psycho-social care.

The service prioritises asking the people we support what they want out of life, with support including one-to-one coaching; a supported self-development programme that encourages people to engage in a range of activities; and 10-week Lifestyle Management courses jointly facilitated by Quarriers and Thistle Foundation for people in the community who were previous patients of the centre.

The Lifestyle Management course covers topics like sleep, pacing and energy management, stress management and communication as well as including relaxation techniques and space for light stretching and exercise. After a well-received pilot, the course will now be delivered online to make it accessible to people from all over Scotland.

Our people

Volunteering

Volunteers play a vital role across our services. Quarriers welcomes volunteers from all walks of life. We often see volunteers from within the organisation too: staff who want to volunteer in their spare time, people who are or have been supported by Quarriers wanting to help others through volunteering, and volunteers going on to become staff.

Quarriers’ diversity means that there are many ways to

get involved. Tracy started volunteering with Quarriers after receiving support from our Maternal Wellbeing Service and runs a therapeutic photography group supporting other mums to express their emotions through photography. You can see Tracy’s work in our fantastic cover photograph.

Audrey began volunteering at Rivendell, a residential service supporting children and young people with a disability, during a career break. Audrey successfully

applied for a Relief Worker post at Rivendell and continues to enjoy cooking and crafts with the young people. Audrey also volunteers as a befriender at Quarriers Village Supported Living, and has developed a friendship with a young woman, enjoying cooking, baking and getting out in the community together.

A team of volunteers from James Livingstone Group took on gardening challenges at the Scottish Epilepsy Centre and our James Shields, Kelso Street and Raeberry

Tracy Audrey James Livingstone Group

Lomond

Robert

Street Services. They braved some very changeable Scottish summer weather to tidy up the gardens, and their hard work ensured that the people we support have green, pleasant spaces to enjoy the benefits of time outdoors.

Not all of our volunteers are human! Lomond the Therapy Dog volunteers at our Renfrewshire Head Injury Service, and his visits help to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of the people we support by encouraging them to enjoy some fresh air and exercise.

During Volunteers’ Week, Robert, a Volunteer Befriender at Quarriers Village Supported Living Service, was invited to attend a reception at the Scottish Parliament to recognise, celebrate and thank volunteers for their contributions. Robert

was invited to speak about his experiences and his presentation was very well received.

Natalie Don, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, is a former volunteer with Quarriers, and she returned to Quarriers Village to help celebrate Volunteers Week and meet some of our current volunteers.

To find out more about volunteering with Quarriers, visit https://quarriers.org.uk/ volunteer

“So many local groups and communities rely on our great volunteers. I was delighted to meet some amazing volunteers at Quarriers who go above and beyond to make a difference. It was inspiring to chat with them and to hear about the work they do.”

– Natalie Don, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West

Natalie Don MSP attending Volunteers’ Week celebration event in Quarriers Village

Care to join us

At Quarriers, we believe in recruiting staff who share our values and supporting them to become the social care professionals of tomorrow. Our award-winning Care To Join Us campaign features staff across the organisation and showcases that a career with Quarriers not only provides opportunities to make a difference for others, it’s an opportunity for staff to get more out of life too.

"I love that Quarriers allows me to work in tandem with my everyday life, allowing me the opportunity to develop whilst maintaining a home-life balance, which allows me to further my studies at university and continue to be a full-time foster parent. Quarriers allows me to not only build lasting working relationships with colleagues I can now call friends, but allows me to build relationships with the people we support and advocate for them to have the best experiences available to them."

Brendan, Support Worker, Glasgow SOLE

“Being a support worker means making a difference to the lives of people I support, and this gives me a sense of personal achievement from helping them live their life to the fullest. It also makes it so much fun when we have the same and similar interests.”

Jo, Support Worker, East Dunbartonshire Phase 2

Video: Support Worker Peter and Richard, who is supported at Homelife Ayr, talk about enjoying spending time together.

Click here

to find out about current opportunities at Quarriers.

Our supporters

With sincere thanks to these charitable trusts, grant-making bodies and foundations

Aberdeenshire Council - Community Planning Partnerships

Aberdeenshire Tackling Poverty and Inequalities Fund

Andrew Paton’s Charitable Trust

Arnold Clark

BBC Children In Need

Brand’s Trust

Carers Trust – Time For Me!

Cash For Kids

Corra Foundation

Creative Scotland

Cruden Foundation

Duncan Campbell Leggat Charitable Trust

Fletcher Bequest Trust

Glasgow City Council – Early Years Change Fund

Glasgow City Council – Glasgow Communities Fund

Guy Lockhart Charitable Trust

lebefoot Charitable Trust

Inspiring Scotland

Inverclyde Community Fund

James Inglis Testamentary Trust

John Christie Trust

John Lewis & Partners

JTH Charitable Trust

Life Changes Trust

Nairn Charitable Trust

Meikle Foundation

Mrs M A Black Charitable Trust

Patrick Mulholland Trust

Robert and Jeanne Mairs Charitable Trust

Shared Care Scotland

Scottish Children’s Lottery

Scottish Government – Community Health and Wellbeing Fund

Scottish Government – CYPEIF and ALEC Fund

Scottish Government - Intandem

Scottish Government – Neurological Action Plan

Scottish Government - Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund

Scottish Government – Short Breaks Fund

Scottish Government – The Promise

Scottish Government – Third Sector Homelessness Fund

Scottish Government – Whole Family Wellbeing Fund

Scottish Social Services Council - Voluntary Sector Development Fund

Talteg Limited

Templeton Goodwill Trust

Tesco Bags For Life

The Ann Jane Green Trust

The Donald Trust

The GC Gibson Charitable Trust

The Robertson Trust

Financial Overview 2022/21

Summary statement of financial activities

Year ended 31 March 2022 Year ended 31 March 2021

£000s £000s

Income from:

Donations and legacies 988 1,280 Charitable activities 44,039 40,755 Other trading activities 100 37 Investments 393 352 Gain on sale of fixed assets 317 210

Total income 45,837 42,634

Expenditure on:

Raising donations and legacies 534 436 Charitable activities 43,673 39,867 Other trading activities 73 49 Investment management costs 354 294

Total expenditure 44,634 40,646

Net income before investment gains 1,203 1,988

Net gains on investments 543 1,040

Net income 1,746 3,028

Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit pension scheme 3,064 (904)

Net movement in funds 4,810 2,124

Where our money came from

Income from charitable activities

£000s

Local authority and NHS fees £34,938 Grants £8,823

Other funding £278

Total £44,039

Income from donations and legacies

Individual giving £783

Community and corporate fundraising £77

Legacies £71 Training grants £24 Trusts and grant making bodies £33

Total £988

Where did our money go?

Charitable activities:

£000s

Adult disability £25,546

Children and families £6,694 Epilepsy £6,638 Young Adults £4,795

Total £43,673